Sehwag is a match-winner, says Jayasuriya

Indian opener Virender Sehwag's prolonged form slump has drawn in a lot of criticism but the struggling right-hander received some support in the form of Sanath Jayasuriya.

The former Sri Lankan opener said Sehwag might not fire every time but India needed an "impact player" like him at the top of the order to win more matches for the country.

"I find it difficult to understand why people criticise a match-winner like Sehwag. He is an impact player. Sehwag will not score 80 or 100 everyday but whenever he scores at least 70 at the top of the order, be rest assured that India will win matches more often than not," Jayasuriya said.

There have been some suggestions that age is catching up with Sehwag, who is a couple of weeks away from his 34th birthday. But Jayasuriya dismissed those suggestions saying age is not a factor if one is fit and motivated.

"I still don't know why a few failures always raise this question of age being a factor. A couple of failures don't suddenly make you old. If one is fit and motivated, age is not a factor," the 43-year-old former Sri Lankan captain stated.

Speaking about Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy, Jayasuriya said leading the country is a learning process and one should "learn from the mistakes".

"Captaincy is always a learning process. Just because Dhoni has lost eight Test matches doesn't make him a bad captain overnight. Yes, there has been criticism about his captaincy. I believe everyone makes mistakes and learns from them. Dhoni should also take the criticism in his stride and try to improve. If you know exactly where you went wrong, it helps you in improving your game," said Jayasuriya.

Speaking about India's bowling, which has not been the team's strength, Jayasuriya said: "One bowler would always go for some runs but one needs to ensure that all bowlers don't get hit simultaneously. I don't know whether India need to play an extra bowler, but if all your bowlers get hit, then there is a problem. India have a reasonably good attack, but they should have defended a 180-plus target against Pakistan in that warm-up game," Jayasuriya said.

Jayasuriya expressed his happiness over Ajantha Mendis splendid return in the match against Zimbabwe, where he picked up a six-wicket haul.

"I am really happy for Ajantha. In the past few seasons, he has had injuries and that affected his performance. He needs to play for a longer period of time as that will benefit Sri Lankan cricket. It's great to see him come up and do well for the country," he said.

Jayasuriya felt the current Sri Lankan team has a very good chance of winning the World Twenty20. "We do have a very good chance of winning the tournament. It's not because we are playing in home conditions but also for the fact that we have a team that has the ability to click as a unit."